Island farmers urge snowmobilers to stay off crops

Some farmers on P.E.I. are urging people to use "a little bit of common sense" after reporting damage to their crops due to snowmobiles.

​Greg MacKenzie, owner of MacKenzie Produce in Stratford, says he has hibernating plants beneath the blanket of snow on his some of his land and that snowmobilers are driving off the trails and over those crops.

"Our plants are all in rows so we can see the tracks right down over the rows and damaged plants," he said.

"In the corner of the field they're kind of cutting tight and running over plants instead of going around. It's a big field here, there's about 60 acres ... so there's lot of space to go around them."

MacKenzie put some marking flags on his property but because snowmobilers keep riding over the crops, he said, he'll have to string along more caution flags and surveying tape to make sure riders can see where they shouldn't go.

MacKenzie doesn't like hanging the signs up and restricting snowmobilers, he said — he'd rather just ask people to be a bit more aware of where they're driving when they're off the trails.

"I understand there hasn't been much snow and you have a sled, you want to get out and use it, but [use] a little bit of caution," MacKenzie said.

"It's like me taking my tractor in a subdivision and driving in people's front yards, it really wouldn't be that appreciated if we didn't ask for permission."

'A little bit of common sense'

​Matthew Compton owns Compton's Vegetable Stand in Summerside, P.E.I., and said some of his crops have also been damaged.